When he walked into the hospice room, he told everybody who was with him,“ please make sure my wife is warm and taken care of.” We called him grandpa but he was our great grandpa. He had been a part of my life for as long as I have been alive. He was a very kind man and loved everyone he met. I remember when I was a little kid going on bike rides around the local high school. Waking up on the weekends to him knocking on the door with burritos for us without us asking, He and my grandma both were very active they traveled around town and made burritos for the local police and fire departments. They did this until the summer before my freshman year. My grandma had a stroke, which left her unable to do anything for her self. Both of my grandparents were in their late seventies. My grandpa refused to let my grandma go to a nursing home and took her home and took care of her by himself. He always put her before himself whether it was making sure she ate or making sure she was comfortable while sitting on his reddish brown recliner.

If I were out driving or just around town or in the store, I would always see him in his cotton white car with my grandma. During the winters and summer, I would wake up to the noise of him shoveling the cold snow in the driveway or mowing our grass. He didn’t have to do this, but he did anyway.  He wanted to make sure that my dad got as much help, as he needed because my dad worked so much.  He would drop off the best tasting burritos that he would wake up early just to make for us. Every time we saw him he would give us a dollar for ice cream even when we told him to keep his money. He started to get sick within the last year or so something with his stomach which made him lose weight only eating a few bites a day or not at all sometimes. During my last summer with him, he asked me and my older brother to move some bags of dusty charcoal because he was now too skinny and frail to move it on his own. My grandpa could not breathe very well and had to use an olive green tank to breath, which is why he asked us to help him. Just a year before he could move it just fine on his own it made me sad. He had been in and out of the hospital over the last year or so. I went to see him a couple times but not as much as I should have, and I regret this.

They found out he had cancer and it had spread and he would not make it most likely. My dad had not told us this and I didn’t know I thought he was just sick. I figure my dad didn’t have to heart to tell us or was just too sad himself to tell us. My mom called me into the room and said, “your grandpa has cancer and won be here much longer”.  In December is when he got really bad, and I didn’t go to see him because I was busy. Should’ve and I regret it. I wish I could go back and see him. I didn’t know the condition he was in. Our dad hadn’t told us and i'm but blaming my father I should’ve seen him. At Around Christmas time my grandpa was out and I thought he was doing okay. He had went and got us red Christmas cards like he did every year and my grandpa could not write so he always had someone write for him.  I never got to tell him thank you for the card because I hadn’t had time to see him or he was busy with my grandma. 

On Christmas my dad called me and said, “ Make sure you call you grandpa and tell him merry Christmas”. I was not feeling; very well and I was sleeping when he called. I fell back asleep. I never called him to tell him Merry Christmas. His final day we went to go see him all my family was in the room. Along with his children who were my grandparents. My brother cousins and aunts and uncles. He was the pillar of our family. When I think of the Davila family I think of him. I walked into the hospice and I just stood there. I didn’t know how to feel I grabbed his hand but he wasn’t awake. I held it for a minute or two then I put his hand back to the picture he was holding. I whispered, “

I’m here, I love you,” He didn’t acknowledge it, but I know he heard it. I was just not able to take seeing him like this. My grandpa who lay in bed with tubes going out his nose covered with a white blanket up to his waist. Was holding a picture of my cousin who was deployed in the army. The picture rested in his cupped hands on his waist.  My dad who was crying told me “its okay you didn’t call him I know you were busy”. 

This really hit me hard because I knew I had fallen asleep and I didn’t call him and I never got another chance. I left that night not knowing it was his last. If I could go back and call him, I would. I wish I could do this I wish I would have gone and seen him more than I did. Ill miss driving past his house and seeing him in garage with a beer in his hand. Ill misses him making burritos for us without us even having to ask or him trying to give us money for ice cream. He was the greatest and kindest man I have ever known and I will miss him.